Consider Risk of Soybean Diseases in 2011

Due to the widespread outbreak of Sudden Death Syndrome in 2010, many soybean growers are taking an even closer look to disease rating scores as they select seed for the 2011 growing season. The effects of last season’s disease is fresh on our minds, but industry experts remind growers to recall what happened in their fields two seasons ago if they use a corn-soybean rotation.

“… The risk of white mold should be considered as well, particularly in northern Iowa where white mold was wide spread in 2009,” says X.B. Yang, an Iowa State University Extension plant pathologist and soybean disease expert.

Both SDS and white mold have built a sufficiently high amount of inoculum in soybean fields in Iowa, according to a December 4 article in Wallaces Farmer. Next summer’s weather conditions will help determine which of these diseases has the greater risk of outbreak.

To read more about the risk of SDS and white mold in 2011, click here to read the article in its entirety.